Derby City Council is about to spell out its future taxi strategy - and this includes the potential new colour scheme for its 270 yellow hackney carriages.

The 12-week consultation, which ended on May 31, revealed that most support was for returning the colour scheme to black.

A small number of people, concerned with the needs of visually-impaired customers, wanted to see them retained as yellow.

At next Thursday's licensing committee meeting, a proposal will be put forward to include elements of both colours - making them mainly black with yellow diagonal strips towards the rear of the vehicles.

Hackney cabs in Derby first became yellow in 2001 following a change of policy by the council to make them more identifiable for customers, including the partially-sighted.

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There are currently no age restrictions on taxi and private hire vehicles licensed in Derby, which has led to an ageing fleet, high emission levels and poor overall condition.

The new strategy would see the introduction of a maximum age of licensed vehicles to 10 years for petrol/diesel and 12 years for ULEV (10 years from 2025), unless in exceptional condition.

Other items in the strategy include:

* the council encouraging the taxi trade to implement a driver dress code

* presence of a large photographic badge in vehicles

* development of driver excellence awards to recognise outstanding customer service

* new drivers to pass an English test before being granted a licence

* card contactless payments in every taxi as an alternative to cash

The consultation revealed mixed views on the raft of measures, including from the Derby Area Taxi Association which said that the "taxi trade needs a five year transitional period to move forward with this major overhaul".

'Taxi' signs on top of cabs would be enlarged in the new strategy (Image: Ian Nicholson/PA Wire)

The response continued: "When the yellow colour policy was implemented in 2001, the council allowed five years for the change over in consideration of the financial implication. The emission and age limit changes ar a far, far bigger financial challenge to the trade so the same principles should be applied."

The association also believes the cabs should be of one basic colour to keep them looking smart.

In total, the council received 515 responses to its survey, which were from drivers, customers, the 50+ forum, and the city's disabled equality and race equality hubs.

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Richard Antcliff, city council director for public protection and Streetpride said: “There was a significant difference in consultation responses from the trade, and from those that were not in the trade, and while we were never going to please everyone, we hope we’ve got the balance right, and all interested parties can positively accept the new strategy if it’s approved by committee – it is after all an exciting move for Derby and our taxi trade.

“What people need to be understood is that there are factors out of the control of the council that mean change is needed, and it’s needed now.

“This strategy is how we make sure Derby is moving with the times, while maintaining our end goal – keeping the taxi trade alive. Allowing drivers to remain operating on a fully commercial basis, and offer customers an excellent and safe experience, at the same time as tackling air quality. And to do that, we have to be bold with our plans.”